Posted on 08/12/2005 9:55:22 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
AUBURN NY--For more than a year, the state has paid Osameh Al Wahaidy while refusing to let him return to his job at Auburn Correctional Facility.
Al Wahaidy makes $57,000 a year as an imam, or Muslim chaplain. His lawyer said he sits at home every weekday, waiting for word to go to work. "He's waiting for a call," Steven Williams said. "He hasn't gotten a single one."
Al Wahaidy, 43, of Fayetteville, pleaded guilty in April 2003 to violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq by sending money there through the Syracuse charity Help the Needy. He said he intended the money to go to Iraqis oppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime, and was unaware that the charity's founder, Dr. Rafil Dhafir, was using the donations for other purposes.
An arbitrator ruled last year that the state, which had sus pended Al Wahaidy without pay, had to give him his job back because he'd endured the appropriate punishment of nine unpaid months for a felony conviction. In the arbitration hearing, his bosses at Auburn praised his work and said they want him back.
The state started paying him again July 1, 2004, but assigned him to his home.
"Lo and behold, the guy at Auburn Correctional Facility calls me and says, ‘Steve, they’re not giving me permission to take him back,’" Williams said.
Auburn’s superintendent, John Burge, referred questions to state prison officials in Albany. Linda Foglia, spokeswoman for the state Department of Correctional Services, confirmed that Al Wahaidy has been placed on paid leave but said she could not comment further. The Auburn prison does not have an imam and borrows one from neighboring facilities at least once a month, she said.
Al Wahaidy, who also lost his part-time job as a math instructor at the State University College at Oswego after his arrest, sits at home every day, at the ready, Williams said.
"He takes his job seriously and he doesn’t want to blow it off," Williams said. "A lot of people might be happy sitting on their tail at home collecting a paycheck. But Osameh’s not. He’s got a strong work ethic, and he wants to return to work."
The next step for Al Wahaidy will likely depend on whether he is sentenced to jail today, Williams said. U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue is scheduled to sentence Al Wahaidy this morning. The charge to which he pleaded guilty carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces 10 to 16 months with the possibility of less time, depending on cooperation with prosecutors.
The prison’s deputy superintendent, Robert Nelson, testified at Al Wahaidy’s arbitration hearing that prison officials wanted him back despite the felony conviction. Nelson testified that Al Wahaidy was "one of the best chaplains" he’d ever seen, according to court papers Williams filed for Al Wahaidy’s sentencing.
The arbitrator, Steven Goldsmith, wrote that state prison officials "failed to produce a single witness able or willing to testify unequivocally that (Al Wahaidy) can’t work there and must be fired."
Williams said he suspects state officials don’t want Al Wahaidy back at the prison because of inaccurate characterizations by politicians of the case. After Al Wahaidy’s arrest, some state legislators called for a sweeping investigation of all 42 imams in the state prison system. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft described the defendants in the Help the Needy case as potential terrorists, as did Gov. George Pataki. But none of the defendants was ever accused of terrorism-related crimes.
"You had all these politicians making wild statements about who Osameh is and what this whole thing meant," Williams said. "It’s very frustrating because anybody who reads the paper in Syracuse knows that’s not what we have here. Osameh’s only intent was to help those people suffering under Saddam Hussein’s regime."
Oh...wonderful...the guy pleads guilty to funneling money to Iraq and an arbitrator says NYS has to let him serve as a prison chaplin...where he'll have plenty of opportunity to foster anti-American views on the prison population.
How can someone, ANYONE convicted of a crime like this be allowed to continue in the government payroll?
Oh, it's New York.
Never mind.
Only in a gubbermint job can you make the big bucks by sitting on your ass at home.
It is only taxpayer money - nobody cares...
Liberalism truly IS a mental disorder.
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